Catching Sparrows

Remember The Wanderer and his book about pigs?  Today the students went back to the library (with the reading kids I try to go every two weeks) and were allowed free choice.  The Wanderer took a book about horses.

Once again, there are constant reminders that somewhere under the skin, beyond the hanging pants, the oversized hoodies, the walking slouch, the bling, the neutral expression which never deigns to crack a smile for fear of revealing emotions, the smirks over even the palest unintended sexual innuendo, lies the lingering remnant of childhood.

I warned him that this time he would have to read the book, not just look at the pictures.  He said he would.  Then, as the other students wandered away, he told me he had a horse, but that they had to leave it in Mexico.  She was just like this one on the cover.  Then, still staring at the palomino on the cover he said quietly, “Her name was Sarah.  And she had a baby, but I’ll never get to see it.”

You’re breaking my heart, kiddo.

Remember the Chess Club president? Today, she opened up her pen, tried to use it to scratch the inside of her ear, and got the spring stuck inside her ear. She had to go to the nurse to have it removed. (We giggled about it together - it was pretty funny, and she recognized that.)

This kid is extremely bright, but I have a feeling she and common sense are only eying one another from across a crowded room.

I might add that to my Teacher Bingo Card: Students over the age of ten who have gotten strange things stuck in odd places.

This kid’s composure is incredible. It’s a heart-warmer and worth a watch.

Dalton Sherman, 5th grader, delivers a keynote address.

Remember that Far Side cartoon about the difference between what people say and what dogs hear? Here’s what I said to my remedial reading class:

“We’re going to begin reading and studying myths, legends, and folklore. Here is a worksheet which explains what these things are. Here’s an example of a book of Greek myths which I love. Here are some examples of myths, legends, and folklore from other cultures. Today, in the library, we will all check out books which contain either myths, legends, or folklore. When we get to the library, I will take you to the section where you will find all the books about myths, legends, and folklore. We will look at all these books about myths, legends, and folklore, and you will choose one you find interesting.”

Here’s what the student - we’ll call him The Wanderer, because he does so both physically and mentally - apparently heard:

“Blah, blah, blah, books, blah, blah, library, blah.”

When we got back to the classroom, this was the result:

“So, everyone tell me what book you checked out.”

The Wanderer piped up, “I got a book about pigs!”

Next year, The Wanderer will be driving a car. We’re going to work on reading and listening a lot between now and then.

You know you’re working at a tough school when you find out last year’s Chess Club president had to be tazed on campus during a brawl in the cafeteria.

She’s been nothing but exemplary in my class this year though, and is one of my brightest and hardest working students.

I have a class that’s very rowdy, and a group of them are often too disruptive for the rest of the class to work.  At my wit’s end (after having tried to contact parents and etc.) I finally found that my facilitator was willing to have me send some of them to his empty classroom that period and tutor them one-on-one.  Yesterday was the first time I tried this, and due to several absences I only had to send one kid.  I told him to pick up his things and go to Room X to get his work done.  He did so.

One of my students, who has been in both rehab and jail but is working extremely hard to turn his life around asked me, “What’s in Room X?”

Not wanting to create a stigma I replied, “Room X is an alternative setting for getting your work done.”

“Oh,” he replied.  Then he sighed heavily.  “I hate alternative settings.”

I guess he’s heard that before.

I’m going to create a Bingo game for teachers to play at home every year. One of the squares will be “Referred to as genitalia.” Check.

One of the squares will be “Threatened with bodily harm by student who is clueless as to the seriousness of saying this out loud.” And I get to fill in that square today. A student, whom I’ve had problems with in the past, was up to his old tricks. Talking instead of working, waiting until the answers are read to fill in his work, distracting others. I gave him a warning, he didn’t listen, I picked up his papers and the cap on top of them and moved them to another desk so he would follow. (If I don’t take his things, it takes him 5-10 very dramatic minutes to make the move.)

When my back was turned to him he said, “You’d better stop touching my hat or I’ll hit you in the head with this skateboard.” (Very large skateboard in his hand.)

Annnnnd that’s all, folks. Push the emergency button, and he’s out of there. He’s suspended for three days, in I.S.S. for three, we’ll be meeting to see about putting him in the alternative center, and he’ll be taken out of my class. I chose not to press charges.

The difficulty, for students, is to understand that even though they “don’t mean it” doesn’t mean it isn’t a threat. It often seems to me there’s a false sense of safety that develops among some students depending on the level of tolerance in schools - a sense of safety that would not serve them well in the real world. That teachers may choose to shrug off some types of behavior or ignore it simply to keep from bringing the class to a screeching halt because someone’s throwing a temper tantrum doesn’t mean that threatening to strike someone with a heavy object isn’t, or shouldn’t be or won’t be, construed as a threat.

The sad thing is that after he said it and before the AP came to collect him, he looked as though he truly understood the magnitude of what he’d done. Of course, he may still have just been stewing, but as he slumped in his chair he did look truly miserable and contemplative and there was no more talking from his end. But another tough lesson I’ve seen many students have to learn is - you don’t always get a second chance.

I’m constantly reminded, as my teaching years go by, how very important it is to remember that everyone has to be taught everything at least once.  The more I teach, the more “evidence” I collect.  Case in point:

I’d begun the year with the intent to have students read, and then compose a compare/contrast essay about, two short stories.  That disintegrated when I began to realize they didn’t have a good grasp of what it meant to compare and contrast.  You would think that would be simple for tenth graders, but when going through the lessons they couldn’t express similarities and differences in any aspect of the stories I knew we were in trouble.  So I went right back to the beginning.  I gave them a list of words and phrases used to compare and contrast things, gave them a graphic organizer, and then a list of words of things which could be easily compared and contrasted.  Lake, ocean.  Boat, truck.  Horse, camel.

There were the inevitable mis-fires of course.  Me having to say, “Well, yes, boats travel on lakes, but can we really say they are similar to lakes?”

While circulating the room as they were completing their graphic organizers I heard, “It can store water in its hump and survive in the desert, but a horse can’t.”

“In its hump?”  And a hand shot up.  “Ms. Kudu, have you ever seen a camel?”

“Yes, I have,” I said.  The girl was looking at me doubtfully.  “And they store fat in their humps, I think, but they can go a long time without water.  They’re kind of scary, actually.  They’re cranky animals, and they spit.”

She said, “How can they be scary?  They’re so small.”

Of course, if you’ve never seen one except on paper, they might just look like hump-backed goats, I suppose.  She was surprised to learn the one I’d seen towered over me (I’m assuming she never saw a picture of one with a person on it or next to it), and suddenly she and her partner lowered their heads and began furiously scribbling on their organizers.  New info, new output.  Imagine that.

I am laughing as I type this. I had to try very hard not to laugh when it happened. I’ve been called a lot of things, but this one’s all new.

I’m in a new school this year, and the kids are tough - lots of poverty, gangs, etc. The school is…poorly run, from what I’ve seen so far. WAY below grade level, which I had an intense conversation about with our English Facilitator with today (”Facilitator” is something like “Department Head” here, without the authority or, apparently, organizational skills).

And I’m a new teacher, so of course they’re going to be tough on me. It doesn’t matter if you’re in your tenth year teaching or not, if it’s your first year at the school they’re going to try their best to eat you alive, or so it appears.

So one of my classes was rowdy today, and while I worked my way through the normal disciplinary process for rowdy students (gotta have process, you know, so there’s paperwork later) one especially tough student who tries hard got especially mad and, while I was helping another student on the other side of the room, hissed at some of the rowdy kids in Spanish, “Shut up and let this vagina do her job.”

And he didn’t use profanity. He just used the actual Spanish word for vagina. I wasn’t supposed to hear it of course (they are not yet aware of my Superhuman Teacher Hearing), so I pretended I didn’t, mostly because I wasn’t certain I’d be able to reprimand him effectively while in the throes of laughter. I know, I know, it shouldn’t be that funny. But it was. It had been a long day.

Later I asked him to make certain that whatever he said in class, be it English or Spanish, be appropriate to the classroom environment. Especially when he was referring to me. We had one of those delicious moments of eye contact where he suddenly realizes that I know, and he blushed and nodded.

Maybe that’s what I’ll title my teaching memoirs, if I ever write them.

Item 1:
In a single class, 15 out of 26 students are identified as “special education.” All of them are male. 14 are Hispanic. 1 is African-American.
Item 2:
From various BIPs (Behavior Intervention Plans):

• Student will refrain from possessing on his person paraphernalia related to illegal substances.
• Student will refrain from making verbal or physical threats to teacher.
• Student will refrain from throwing objects in class, including books and desks. (Given how obscure BIPs tend to be in my experience, the fact that this one includes such specific details is noteworthy.)

Item 3:
From the special education teacher: “It was the ARD committee’s decision not to inform the student that she is classified as emotionally disturbed.”

Hmm….got some work to do.